Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic Review (PS5)

There is life beyond heroic stories, epic adventures, teeth clenching combat scenes and driving at speeds that blur reality into a neon rainbow. Or better said, there is gameplay beyond all these thrilling things. For example, you can look for Waldo if he would be a bar of soap sitting at the bottom of a witch’s cauldron. Or an alien hiding in the trashcan of a werewolf family. Or perhaps woodworm climbing up on the legs of the legendary Trojan Horse.

As you might have guessed, Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic is a puzzle game where you have to find various objects very well hidden in various scenes. Although many consider this to not be a “true” videogame, the title developed by Rogueside will literally glue your eyes to the screen.

Compared to many simpler games that borrow from the trends so popular on mobile devices, Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic offers a satisfying experience, if you are passionate about hidden object games. Unlike many other titles reviewed lately, this game feels well put together and offers an experience that was conceived for the console, not just slapped on it.

Each level of the game is a very detailed and very large drawing, featuring plenty of details and moving elements. You will be lost among the countless buildings, characters, animals, vegetation and whatnots. The chaos is elevated by the animated sprites that derail you from focusing on your objective. It feels like each level is truly alive and you are an observer trying to make sense of them.

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While there is no story per se, the game is divided four chapters, each built around a certain theme: the Middle Ages, the magical 80’s, 1001 nights and Greek mythology. While the latter contain what you would expect in terms of flying carpets, forty thieves, the isle of Ithaca or soldiers turned into pigs by one angry witch, the werewolves and other magical creatures presented in modern settings like a high school party are both lighthearted and fresh.

Next to the animated sprites and cartoonish style with heavy black contours that make identifying items a real challenge, there are also interactive objects that make the search even harder. Buildings may have several floors requiring you to open and search them individually, trash cans may hide more than overzealous raccoons and certainly beneath the miniature sand dunes from the playground lie untold treasures.

The 32 levels, seven plus one bonus for each chapter, are also affected by two modes envisioned by the developers. This can be a day/night change, a change of season or a change in the atmospheric conditions. Triggered at will by the player these two different states affect the scene on a deep level, often redrawing a serious chunk of it. Since some items can be found only in or the other state, you will spend quite a lot of time combing through each level.

In each level you will have to find an increasing number of better and better hidden objects. Hovering over their silhouette you will get a short hint about where to look for them, but sometimes these mysterious clues can be more confusing than helpful. Next to the standard objects you will also find a secret hidden item in each level. Gathering all seven will grant you access to the secret level of the chapter.

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Although the gameplay mechanics are simple as ABC, finding the items is not simple at all. The difficulty level increases to the point where you can easily spend more than 60 minutes looking for an elusive object. So, based on your observation skills or power to resist the temptation to use a guide, you can spend from a couple of hours to more than 10 hours finding everything in Hidden Through Time 2: Myths & Magic.

Since each playthrough asks you to find the very same objects, you would think the replay value is lacking. And while I think they missed out on the opportunity of adding several playthroughs each requiring you to find different objects, they did think about the creative power of the community. As such they added the Architect mode.

This easy to use and comprehensive level editor gives you the power to create your own levels, that can match or even raise the difficulty of the original levels. You have every asset at your disposal to create complex scenes, and fiendish mechanisms to drive people insane trying to find one object or another. At the moment of writing the review unfortunately I could only find some very basic community created levels, but I am sure if the game gains momentum we will see plenty of mind-blowing new challenges.

Though the graphics are simple, using an isometric perspective to present a 2.5D world, the visual style more than makes up for it. The only comments I would have is that some of the levels of different chapters tend to look similar due to the developers favoring certain color palettes. The other observation is the long loading time, that is only partially justified by the complexity of the scenes.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion